A ten-year veteran of the Vancouver Police Department underwent surgery Thursday morning and is recovering from a gun shot wound he suffered during a SWAT operation on July 18 when a wanted man barricaded himself inside a southeast Vancouver residence with a hostage. Both the officer and the hostage were shot before the suspect was captured, police reported.
Cpl. Chris LeBlanc - 2002 photo submitted by VPD According to Kim Kapp, the department’s Public Information Coordinator, ... [full story]

BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military says a roadside bomb in Baghdad claimed the lives of four U.S. soldiers and their Iraqi translator. The soldiers and translator were killed Wednesday in eastern Baghdad while on a patrolling mission to block weapons and insurgents from entering the city, the BBC reported Thursday. The deaths brought the U.S. military's death toll for July to 47. U.S. commanders say casualties have been on the rise in recent months as ... [full story]

CANBERRA, Australia -- Australian crime statistics showed that in 2005-06, the number of homicides committed by teen males in Australia had doubled from the previous year. The Australian Institute of Criminology figures showed that in 2005-06, 57 young men between the ages of 15 and 19 committed homicides in Australia. The Australian reported Thursday that in the previous year 22 homicides were committed by male members of the same group. Those crime figures also showed ... [full story]

HARROGATE, England -- A British father and son wielding metal detectors have discovered what is thought to be the most important hoard of Viking treasure found in the past 150 years. David Whelan and his son, Andrew, discovered 617 silver coins, a gold arm-ring, a gilt silver vessel and other treasure while covering ground around Harrogate in North Yorkshire with metal detectors in January, The Telegraph reported Thursday. British museum conservators excavated the treasure, which ... [full story]

MOSCOW -- A Russian Defense Ministry source warned countries considering hosting an anti-missile defense system that they could be putting themselves at risk. RIA Novosti Thursday quoted the unnamed official as saying that Russia is concerned about an anti-missile system being erected around the country. "Europe, Alaska, naval components and space-based tracking, control-and-communication systems -- all of these are elements of the U.S. missile defense system," he said. "What is of primary importance is the ... [full story]

KNIGHTSTOWN, Ireland -- World renowned free solo rock climber Michael Reardon is believed dead after he was swept out to sea by a rogue wave off the coast of Ireland. Rearden, 42, a native of Oak Park, Calif., disappeared into the sea on Ireland's southwest coast after completing two climbs on the small island of Valentia, The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. "It was just another day of climbing on Atlantic sea cliffs in Ireland ... [full story]

SAO PAULO -- Brazil's Federal Public Ministry called for the country's busiest airport to close in the wake of a crash that killed at least 187 people. The call to close Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport followed reports that the recently repaved runway wasn't properly grooved to drain away water during rainstorms. However top aviation officials said Thursday that the runway was not the cause for the accident, Agencia Estado reported. The late Tuesday crash of ... [full story]

ROME -- Jewish leaders in Italy praised the Vatican Thursday for contemplating the removal of a Latin mass prayer that calls for the conversion of Jews. The praise from the nation's Jewish community comes after Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the secretary of state for the Vatican, said Wednesday that the prayer could be removed soon from the reintroduced mass, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. The Latin mass was reintroduced by Pope Benedict XVI earlier this ... [full story]

LONDON -- A British court sentenced three Muslim men to six years in prison after they were convicted of soliciting murder at a protest against a newspaper cartoon. Mizanur Rahman, Umran Javed and Abdul Muhid were convicted in separate trials of soliciting murder and stirring up race hatred during a London protest against newspaper comic strips that were considered offensive to Muslims, The Telegraph reported Thursday. "Your words were meant to ferment hatred and encourage ... [full story]

LONDON -- A report from Britain's National Audit Office has found that 3 million British unemployed households are costing the nation nearly $26 billion a year. The report not only details how 1-in-6 British households includes unemployed adults but showed the escalating costs those individuals pose to taxpayers should their situation deteriorate, The Daily Mail said Thursday. The office's report also laid the blame for the worsening situation on the British government, although it does ... [full story]